Computational Thinking Education in K-12 Artificial Intelligence Literacy and Physical Computing

A guide to computational thinking education, with a focus on artificial intelligence literacy and the integration of computing and physical objects.
 

Computing has become an essential part of today’s primary and secondary school curricula. In recent years, K–12 computer education has shifted from computer science itself to the broader perspective of computational thinking (CT), which is less about technology than a way of thinking and solving problems—“a fundamental skill for everyone, not just computer scientists,” in the words of Jeanette Wing, author of a foundational article on CT. This volume introduces a variety of approaches to CT in K–12 education, offering a wide range of international perspectives that focus on artificial intelligence (AI) literacy and the integration of computing and physical objects.
 
The book first offers an overview of CT and its importance in K–12 education, covering such topics as the rationale for teaching CT; programming as a general problem-solving skill; and the “phenomenon-based learning” approach. It then addresses the educational implications of the explosion in AI research, discussing, among other things, the importance of teaching children to be conscientious designers and consumers of AI. Finally, the book examines the increasing influence of physical devices in CT education, considering the learning opportunities offered by robotics.
 
Contributors
Harold Abelson, Cynthia Breazeal, Karen Brennan, Michael E. Caspersen, Christian Dindler, Daniella DiPaola, Nardie Fanchamps, Christina Gardner-McCune, Mark Guzdial, Kai Hakkarainen, Fredrik Heintz, Paul Hennissen, H. Ulrich Hoppe, Ole Sejer Iversen, Siu-Cheung Kong, Wai-Ying Kwok, Sven Manske, Jesús Moreno-León, Blakeley H. Payne, Sini Riikonen, Gregorio Robles, Marcos Román-González, Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Ju-Ling Shih, Pasi Silander, Lou Slangen, Rachel Charlotte Smith, Marcus Specht, Florence R. Sullivan, David S. Touretzky
 

Siu-Cheung Kong is Professor of IT in Education and the Director of the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology at the Education University of Hong Kong.
 
Harold Abelson is Class of 1922 Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at MIT and Founding Director of Creative Commons, Public Knowledge, and the Free Software Foundation. He is the coauthor of the widely used textbook Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (MIT Press) and other books.
 

Introduction to Computational Thinking Education in K--12 1
I A Multiplicity of Computational Thinkings 13
1 A Case for Why: Society, School, Self 15
2 Providing Students with Computational Literacy for Learning About Everything 29
3 Developing Computational Thinking Skills with Multiple Models and Representations 49
4 Toward a Theory (And Practice) of Multiple Computational Thinkings 71
5 Learning Computational Thinking in Phenomena-Based Co-Creation Projects: Perspectives from Finland 103
6 Computational Empowerment 121
II Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence Literacy in K--12 141
7 The Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence Duality 143
8 Artificial Intelligence Thinking in K--12 153
9 Preparing Children to be Conscientious Consumers and Designers of AI Technologies 181
III Computational Thinking and Physical Computing Education in K--12 207
10 Examining the Multidimensional Learning Affordances of Robotics for Computational Thinking and Science Inquiry 209
11 Toward a Research Agenda for Developing Computational Thinking Skills by Sense-Reason-Act Programming with Robots 229
12 Computational Thinking in the Interdisciplinary Robotic Game: The Charm of STEAM 245
Additional Readings on CT Education for K--12 271
Contributors 275
Index 277